Oaken is a charming deckbuilding roguelike by Laki Studios that utilizes hex grid battle maps with an emphasis on strategic positioning. You begin Oaken playing as The Lady, a very sleepy and somewhat confused sproutling. You awaken to the chaos caused by spirits who have gone mad in the wake of the Oak Song going silent and must fight your way down to the Oak’s core to find out why. Compared to the dark and gritty atmosphere found in your standard roguelike, Oaken’s whimsical nature comes as a breath of fresh air, and the Celtic and tribal influences really shine through in terms of its captivating music and enchanting art style.
Battles take place on a small hex-based battle map with your hero placed in a predetermined location. You start with a hand of four cards that you can reroll once, and you play cards with Lumi, a resource that increases incrementally every round from a starting pool of three up to a maximum of seven. Cards can either be spirits, which can be placed as units, or spells, which trigger one-time effects like damaging or healing units. Each card can be safely played once, but playing a card twice during a battle will exhaust it for the entire chapter. I tried my best not to play cards more than once per battle until the final boss of each chapter, although there were definitely times when I had to exhaust cards early just to survive. To Oaken’s credit, I found myself on the back foot a fair amount of the time, especially with how it loves to throw new mechanics at you after every run.
The way you position each unit on the hex grid is just as important as what units you play. Besides specific level hazards, all spirits have a frontal arc that allows them to counterattack enemies. Any spirit that attacks an enemy from its frontal arc takes full damage based on the enemy’s attack power. Should you position an ally behind an enemy, however, they’re able to attack without triggering a response. The reverse is true as well, and enemies will certainly capitalize if you leave an allied unit exposed. I can’t say I’ve not done so intentionally in order to bait enemies into an advantageous position or to protect a weakened ally, but you generally want to avoid giving your foes free damage unless there’s some benefit. The only unit you can’t let die is your hero, so don’t be afraid to put a few sacrificial lambs between them and the crazed spirits.
The heart of Oaken’s gameplay loop follows three (out of six possible) chapters with branching routes, with various enemies and events strewn in your way. Each chapter has thematic encounters and level elements as well as unique battle music. In the Valley of Thorns, for instance, battles become a war of attrition thanks to spikeweeds littering the battlefield that damage units who pass through. Combined with random battle modifiers such as units taking damage every time they advance, each battle in these areas becomes a unique experience with different challenges to consider. It can be a lot to take in, but Oaken thankfully explains the effects of unique hex tiles and level elements when you hover over them.
Successful encounters will reward you with new cards or trinkets, as well as upgrade materials like Lumi Dust, Lumi Globes, and Wisps. Lumi Dust is earned from each battle and by completing optional level objectives, which can then be used to upgrade the attack and defense of spirits. Lumi Globes are much rarer, but these can be used to upgrade spells with additional effects or to enhance the skills of your hero. Wisps are equally rare, but they offer units a permanent +1 to either attack or defense as well as a unique ability, such as extending that unit’s frontal arc. All of these upgrades help you deal with the progressing difficulty in each chapter, so learning to maximize your gains is crucial if you want to make life easier for yourself.
Oaken definitely has a healthy variety of spirits, spells, and trinkets that help differentiate each playthrough. By my fourth successful run through the game, I was still encountering new tactical combinations between card abilities, trinkets, and hero skills. The level of synergy you can reach can sometimes make you untouchable, basically trivializing combat encounters. I did have some difficulty initially figuring out what certain abilities do since there are no tooltips to actually explain them even after you acquire them. Other than guessing, the only real way to figure out an ability like “swing” or “growth” is to experiment. I guess knowing really is half the battle.
You’ll find different events in each chapter, but all events offer tradeoffs in exchange for rewards. Events always have one safe option, but more valuable rewards are locked behind some kind of cost. You might pay Lumi Dust in exchange for new spirits, or gain increasing levels of exhaustion in exchange for a greater number of cards, trinkets, or upgrade materials. Some choices have irreversible consequences, however, such as sacrificing your guide or the ability to use your hero’s skills in exchange for a boost or new ability of some kind. These choices tend to fundamentally change the way you play but can easily ruin your build if not carefully considered.
Exhaustion was probably the greatest impediment to my progress, all things considered. While you are always fully healed after each battle, levels of exhaustion lower your maximum health as you accumulate more of it. Certain enemies and battle conditions trigger exhaustion, and each battle is a race against time since a poisonous fog that begins to exhaust all units on the board spawns one turn after the last enemy enters the battlefield. Taking on too much exhaustion can doom a playthrough since it costs valuable Lumi Dust to heal exhausted units, and a fully exhausted unit cannot be played until the next chapter. Wasting too much Lumi Dust to heal exhaustion also throttles your ability to upgrade or purchase spirits, and that added power is crucial for later chapters.
While most of the deckbuilding happens mid-playthrough, there are also some choices to be made before each run. The hero and guide you select determine your starting deck of four spirits, two spells, and two trinkets. You’ll be limited at first, with The Lady as your hero and Aya as your guide, but will unlock an additional character and six other guides as you encounter them. Completing challenges will also reward you with talent points, which can give you additional bonuses on subsequent runs. Your starting choices can easily influence the direction of your build since each guide offers unique abilities and both heroes cater to a slightly different playstyle.
The Lady is generally more focused on unit support, while Kidu excels at offensive spells. Heroes have two default skills that can be used during each combat turn, one for clearing hazardous hexes and another to heal nearby spirits, as well as one skill based on the chosen guide. Kusta, my personal favorite guide, lets you weaken an enemy, which causes them to deal less damage. Kusta’s trinket, which creates an equal amount of exposure for each instance of weakness, also makes enemies take more damage. When you compound these effects with trinkets that increase weakness gain, you can effectively neutralize otherwise fatal enemies.
A key problem I’ve faced playing other deckbuilders is deck bloat, where your deck fills up with less-than-useful cards that aren’t relevant to the build you’re going for. Oaken avoids this problem entirely, actually allowing players to recycle unwanted cards in exchange for some Lumi Dust. This can help you trim your deck while also providing the resources you need to upgrade or heal the units you decide to keep on. While it seems a little out of character for the Lady to be okay with recycling innocent spirits for extra resources, I certainly appreciated the added revenue stream.
Oaken is pretty forgiving in other ways, too. Even if you die in battle, Oaken lets you try again once per chapter. You regain full health after every battle, too, barring any exhaustion you’ve accumulated. One of my favorite features was the ability to undo your most recent action in battle, which gives you a chance to reconsider your strategy when things don’t turn out quite how you wanted them to. Dozens of unintentionally murdered allies have been brought back from oblivion thanks to this one handy feature.
Despite being a little less punishing than your standard roguelike, you can certainly make the game harder if that’s your style. Successfully finishing a playthrough of Oaken unlocks mastery levels, which affect the core gameplay in different ways. For example, you can make stronger hollow variants of enemies more common, or you can make it so that retries don’t refresh between chapters. Completing additional runs with mastery levels activated allows you to earn even more mastery points, letting you really double down on the difficulty if you find the base experience too trivial.
Gameplay aside, Oaken’s art style has an endearing, whimsical nature that presents itself well. Many of the spirits were inspired by Celtic and Slavic folklore, and their 3D models, while cutesy, retain an esoteric, mystical kind of feel. The corresponding cards for each spirit are gorgeous, with intricate details and vibrant colors that truly bring them to life. Each card is a work of art on its own, making collecting and admiring them a treat.
The Celtic inspiration comes through in the soundtrack, as well. Oaken’s vibrant musical score, composed by independent Celtic composer Ian Fontova, creates a harmonious atmosphere that suits the world well. The soundtrack features lively violins and haunting flutes that felt particularly enchanting as background music along with the battle music reflecting the atmosphere of each chapter. The battle soundtrack for the ‘Roots’ chapter was particularly notable, utilizing the sound of a falling tree amid pauses in the composition. My favorite, though, would probably have to be the theme for the ‘Hollows’ chapter, which has a deep, resonating ambiance that really sets the mood.
As you embark on your journey through Oaken’s captivating world, you’ll encounter branching paths, irreversible choices, and challenging battles that will test your wit and positional awareness. I know I found myself up against a wall more than a few times. Oaken might show you the basics, but there will be some puzzles you have to figure out for yourself. You might share the Lady’s confusion at times trying to figure out what certain abilities mean, but it will be an endearing experience testing things out for the first time. Every misstep just gives you a better idea of how to handle things the next go-around.
Austin reviewed Oaken on the Xbox Series S with a key provided by the publisher. Oaken is also available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
Hey,just wanted to alert you that you said,”Knot” instead of not!
Ah thank you! Will edit that 🙂